Gladys Block

Gladys Block is a nutrition researcher most famous for her work in designing the Block food frequency questionnaire[1] and her meta-analysis of the nutritional effects of Vitamin C.[2] She worked at the National Cancer Institute and is currently a Professor Emerita of the University of California, Berkeley, as well as founder and scientific director of NutritionQuest.[3]

Education and career

Block received a Bachelor of Arts in English, Philosophy, and French from Swarthmore College in 1960, and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University's School of Public Health in 1982.[3][4]

From May 1982 to June 1991, Block worked at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health as a nutritional epidemiologist.[3] While there, she worked on the Block FFQ[1] and conducted research on the role of Vitamin C and cancer risk.[3][5]

From July 1991 onward, Block worked at the University of California, Berkeley as a professor (and subsequently professor emerita) of Community Health and Human Development in the School of Public Health.[3][6][7]

In 1994, Block founded NutritionQuest, a company that provides diet and physical activity screeners including the Block FFQ, and provides the Alive! tool to help people improve their physical activity and food habits.[8] Block is currently Senior Scientist at NutritionQuest.[4]

Work

Block FFQ

During her time at the National Cancer Institute (1982 to 1991), Block developed a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) that would later come to be known as the Block FFQ.[1] The approach to questionnaire design was first described in a paper co-authored with Hartman, Dresser, Carroll, Gannon, and Gardner in 1986.[9] Research by Block, Potosky, and Clifford on validation of the questionnaire was published in 1990.[10]

After leaving the National Cancer Institute in 1991, Block continued to work on the FFQ, offering it through the company, NutritionQuest, that she founded in 1994. Subsequent released versions include the Block 95 and Block 98 FFQs. A web version was also released and validated.[11]

The Block FFQ has been used in third-party research[12] and has also been the subject of validation and comparison studies.[13][14][15]

The Block FFQ is the earliest of the currently widely used FFQs in the United States. Other semi-quantitative FFQs include the Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ) and NHANES (also developed at the National Cancer Institute) and the Harvard FFQ, developed by a team at Harvard University led by Walter Willett.[1][16]

The Block FFQ is currently offered by NutritionQuest at $2 per response.[17]

The link between diet, Vitamin C (and other nutrients) and health status (particularly cancer risk)

While at the NCI, Block led research on the nutritional effects of the consumption of Vitamin C on health status and in particular cancer risk.[3] In a three-day symposium at the National Institutes of Health (September 10 to 12, 1990), Block summarized existing research on the role of Vitamin C in cancer prevention as follows: "Of 46 reports on epidemiologic studies, 33 described significant protective effects on cancer mortality or incidence."[5][18] In 1992, Block's review of 15 epidemiological studies on cancer rates and intake of Vitamin C was cited in the New York Times.[2]

Block continued to study the effect of vitamin and other nutrient consumption on health status while at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research results have generally supported the idea that vitamin consumption reduces the risk of adverse health conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and hypertension, and that dietary supplements can be an effective source of vitamins (albeit not as good as direct consumption of fruits and vegetables containing the relevant nutrients).[19]

Block's findings on the relation between Vitamin C, diet patterns (including consumption of fruits and vegetables as well as dietary supplements), and cancer have been cited in popular press pieces including in the New York Times.[20]

Block has been cited in media coverage of the debate around the efficacy of dietary multivitamin supplements in combating health risks including the risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. Others taking a similar position as Block (in favor of dietary supplements) include Harvard professor Walter Willett (designer of the Harvard FFQ), researcher Bruce N. Ames, and Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Those on the other side include Marion Nestle, Joan Gussow, Catherine Wotecki, Walter Mertz, and Edgar Miller.[21][22][23]

ALIVE program to improve diet and physical activity

Block has developed a program called ALIVE that people can use to improve their diet and physical activity.[8][24] The program and its spinoff, ALIVE-PD (to help prediabetics prevent diabetes) are currently offered through Turnaround Health, a division of NutritionQuest.[25][26]

Variety in diet

Block has led research on the variety in people's diet and its effects on people's nutrient consumption and health status.[27] She has been cited on the subject in the New York Times.[28]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Food Frequency Questionnaires" (PDF). University of Colorado Denver. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Vitamins Win Support as Potent Agents of Health". New York Times. March 10, 1992. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Gladys Block". LinkedIn. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Our Team". NutritionQuest. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  5. 1 2 Lawson, Stephen (August 28, 1994). "Studies Confirm Pauling on Vitamin C's Anti-Cancer Benefit". New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Gladys Block PhD". School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Gladys Blcock: Expert Profile". Center for Health Journalism. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  8. 1 2 Block, Gladys. "About Me". MedicineX, Stanford University.
  9. ↑ Block, Gladys; Hartman, AM; Dresser, CM; Carroll, MD; Gannon, J; Gardner, L (1986). "A data-based approach to diet questionnaire design and testing". American Journal of Epidemiology. 124 (3): 453–469. PMID 3740045.
  10. ↑ Block, Gladys; Wood, M; Potosky, A; Clifford, C (1990). "Validation of a self-administered diet history questionnaire using multiple diet records". Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 43 (12): 1327–1335. doi:10.1016/0895-4356(90)90099-B. PMID 2254769.
  11. ↑ "Our Research: Questionnaires". NutritionQuest. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  12. ↑ Mares-Perlman, JA; Klein, BEK; Klein, R; Ritter, LL; Fisher, MR; Freudenheim, JL (1993). "A diet history questionnaire ranks nutrient intakes in middle-aged and older men and women similarly to multiple food records". Journal of Nutrition. 123 (3): 489–501. PMID 8463852.
  13. ↑ Subar, Amy; Thompson, Frances; Kipnis, Victor; Midthune, Douglas; Hurwitz, Paul; McNutt, Suzanne; McIntosh, Anna; Rosenfeld, Simon (2001). "Comparative Validation of the Block, Willett, and National Cancer Institute Food Frequency Questionnaires: The Eating at America's Table Study". American Journal of Epidemiology. 154: 1089–1099.
  14. ↑ Boucher, B; Cotterchio, M; Krieger, N; Nadalin, V; Block, Torin; Block, Gladys (2006). "Validity and reliability of the Block98 food-frequency questionnaire in a sample of Canadian women.". Public Health Nutrition. 9 (1): 84–93.
  15. ↑ Johnson, BA; Herring, AH; Ibrahim, JG; Siega-Riz, Am (2007). "Structured measurement error in nutritional epidemiology; applications in the Pregnancy, Infection and Nutrition (PIN) Study". Journal of the American Statistical Association. 102 (479): 856–866.
  16. ↑ "Register of validated short dietary instruments (restricted to FFQs)". National Cancer Institute.
  17. ↑ "Assessment Tools and Analysis Services". NutritionQuest. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Vitamin C recognized by the National Cancer Institute". NutritionDigest. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  19. ↑ Block, Gladys; Jensen, Christopher; Norkus, Edward; Dalvi, Tapashi; Wong, Les; McManus, Jamie; Hudes, Mark (October 24, 2007). "Usage patterns, health, and nutritional status of long-term multiple dietary supplement users: a cross-sectional study". Nutrition Journal. 6. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-6-30. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  20. ↑ Brody, Jane E. (July 5, 1994). "SCIENTIST AT WORK: Bruce N. Ames; Strong Views on Origins of Cancer". New York Times. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  21. ↑ Burros, Marian (April 14, 1993). "Eating Well". New York Times. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Eating Well". New York Times. April 20, 1994. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  23. ↑ Kounang, Nadia (December 17, 2013). "Are multivitamins a waste of money? Editorial in medical journal says yes". CNN. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Improving Diet and Physical Activity with ALIVE. A Worksite Randomized Trial". American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 36 (6): 475–483. 2009.
  25. ↑ "About the Program". Turnaround Health. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  26. ↑ "ALIVE! NutritionQuest" (PDF). National Institutes of Health, as part of the Commercialization Assistance Program, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR). Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  27. ↑ Kant, AK; Schatzkin, A; Harris, TB; Ziegler, RG; Block, Gladys (March 1, 1993). "Dietary diversity and subsequent mortality in the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-up Study". American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 57 (3): 434–440. PMID 8382446.
  28. ↑ Hall, Trish (April 1, 1992). "Same Old Dinner, Same Old Lunch: Most People Like It That Way". New York Times. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
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